


Birthday Parties and Old Relics

by Kawaiicoyote



Series: Decisions [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluffy, Hurt, Implies underage sex, M/M, it's Derek's birthday, past Kate/Derek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-26
Updated: 2012-10-26
Packaged: 2017-11-17 02:17:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/546543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kawaiicoyote/pseuds/Kawaiicoyote
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Things are good.<br/>There is no imminent danger.<br/>Derek is happy.<br/>Maybe too happy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Birthday Parties and Old Relics

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GeeGollyWiz13](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeeGollyWiz13/gifts).



> So Geegollywiz13 and I have recently read the Teen Wolf novel. And it got into our heads that what if Derek just can't lt himself be happy for too long. That he's unable to let things be or compare things to his past.  
> This is my end result.

The house and property and shrouded in darkness, only the light of the moon lighting the front of the newly renovated house.

He can heart heartbeats from inside and whispering, but can’t concentrate hard enough to make out what’s being said.

It sets Derek on edge as he climbs the porch steps one by one, making sure to go slow so the new wood doesn’t creak under his weight.

His nails morph and elongate into claws, his pulse is thundering in veins.

Slowly he turns the door knob and pushes the heavy ornate door and lets it swing open and takes a cautious step inside.

All of a sudden someone flicks the lights on and he’s momentarily blinded.

“Surprise!” Echoes through the foyer by different voices all at once, and Derek blinks until everything comes into focus.

His thick black eyebrows in confusion until his gaze zones in on Stiles, in the middle of the group, who holds a large sheet cake in his arms. ‘Happy Birthday Sourwolf’ is scrolled across it in deep navy blue icing.

Derek lets out a breath he didn’t know he’s been holding and his shoulders sag, his claw retracting to his short blunt and slightly gnawed on human nails.

He’d forgotten his own birthday.

Stiles obviously hadn’t.

Stiles beams at him, amber eyes a glow with warmth and smugness. Derek quirks an eyebrow at him, trying his best not to smile, it’s a lost cause and they both know it.

His eyes sweep the group. The trio of pups are sitting on the stairs, Boyd at the top, Isaac and the bottom, and Erica on the step between them. They’re grinning at him and Erica blows on a tinsel covered noise maker, all too happy to have an occasion to make a racket and be able to get away with it.

Scott and Allison flank Stiles, each wearing a party hat, Scott trying his best to secure one onto Stiles head. Lydia and Jackson are just behind them, trying to blend into the background. Jackson looks a little out of place. Beside him Lydia is grinning from ear to ear and then Derek notices the plastic tubing on her hand. Their gazes lock and she grins mischievously before pulling on a tiny sting attached to whatever it is she’s holding.

A loud ‘pop’ sounds and brightly colored streamers explode and rain down over them. She giggles and he notices Jackson is grinning too as he fishes another one of the contraptions from his pocket and hands her another one. Derek mentally tells himself they’re sweeping all that up.

Sheriff Stilinski is there sipping from a beer and Derek blanches a bit but the good Sheriff pulls up a shoulder in a shrug and grins at him. Derek notices he is also in regular street clothes and doesn’t seem to be carrying a weapon. Derek also knows not to count his chickens on that just yet.

What surprises him most is seeing his Uncle Peter, leaning against the wall, smiling at something Melissa McCall is whispering to him. He pointedly doesn’t listen in on whatever she’s saying. It’s odd for him to see a smile on his Uncle’s face. A smile that isn’t one of revenge or twisted with psychotic rage, no, this smile reminds Derek of how his Uncle used to be.

Peter’s gaze flits to his and the smile stays in place. He looks at him with fondness and familial affection and it makes Derek’s chest constrict.

“Let’s get this par-tay started!” Stiles croons enthusiastically. Lydia squeals and another burst of rainbow streamers fly through the air. Erica blows on her party horn again and smiles with it between her teeth.

Derek barely resists rolling his eyes at the show but follows them into the kitchen. Stiles is pointing to a chair at the head of the table, the only one with a huge cake shaped ‘Happy Birthday’ balloon tied to is, and he sits.

There’s one candle placed in the corner of the cake. It’s of course, recurring theme he senses, blue.

He looks up at his pack, all different and not all wolf, but they’re his pack. The feeling of that crashes down around him and threatens to overwhelm him. That is until they break into the traditional ‘Happy Birthday’. Half of them- Allison, Melissa, Sheriff Stilinski- try to actually sing it normally. The rest of them, aside from Peter who just sips at a beer, sing as crazily and offkey as they can. It makes Derek snort and shake his head at them.

They all look at him expectantly.

“Make a wish,” Isaac says shyly, but his deep blue eyes are wide and full of excitement, beside him Erica and Boyd and nodding enthusiastically.

Derek licks his lips, eyes flicking to Stiles, and rubs his rough stubble covered chin. He makes a show out of thinking and Stiles swats him playfully on the back of the head.

“Oh c’mon Derek,” The teen whines with a grin. “One little wish.”

He nods and stares at the tiny little flame. It makes him swallow hard as he watches the soft orange glow flicker and dance in the still air of the room. It makes him remember how much he hates fire.

Quickly he takes a deep breath and blows it out, a wisp of smoke and the heavy scent of candle wax is left in its wake.

He doesn’t make a wish, but nobody- except maybe Peter- knows that. Stiles nods in approval and holds up a knife to cut the cake with a wicked grin.

 The party is long past wound down. The only partygoers still left are the ones that actually live in the renovated Hale house, and Stiles. But then again Stiles practically lives there anyway.

Derek watches the hyperactive teen of which that has a sugar high, and sips his beer from his spot on the couch. He finds it amusing how Stiles cleans when he’s on a sugar high. He wonders how long he’ll stay. He wonders if one day he’ll wake up and realize he’s actually sleeping next to a monster.

Derek downs the rest of his beer in one go and lets the warm haze of the alcohol wash over him. It’ll be the last one he drinks for the night. He never liked drinking much anyway.

Peter passes through the archway from the kitchen with a goblet of red wine in his hand. Derek shudders and pinches the bridge of his nose.

“Happy Birthday nephew,” Peter says and raises his glass to him in a salute. Derek inclines his chin in acknowledgement. Of course his Uncle wouldn’t know how bad that unsettled him.

The thought is gone when Stiles bounds into the living room and jumps into his lip and makes a show of kisses his rough cheek with a loud smack.

Derek rolls his eyes but slips his arms around the teen.

“Let’s go to bed birthday boy,” Stiles murmurs, nuzzling against his neck in affection. Derek can hear the affection in his voice and smell the sweetness of cake and sparkling cranberry juice on his breath.

It’s after Stiles breathing has evened out, his sweat slicked skin now cool and cocooned in the blankets beside Derek, does the older man slides out of bed and tugs on a pair of running pants.

He can hear the other three in Erica’s room down the hall. With his heightened hearing he can tell they’re watching horror movies. In the back of his mind he knows it’s not only so they can bond with each other, but so they have something to drown out the noises of Derek’s birthday sex.

Vaguely he wonders where Peter is, he wonders if maybe he’s gone home with Melissa after all.

The room is dark, just barely lit by the moonlight that spills through the cracked drapes. He sighs standing in front of his dresser.

He bypasses the top three which are Stiles, and then two more and opens the very bottom one. He stoops and quietly digs to the bottom.

It’s still there.

At the very bottom, Derek’s fingers curl around the small square velvet box. He takes it out and goes to sit underneath the large bay window. He has Stiles in perfect view from where he sits. The moonlight shines on him, makes his skin look milky white and dotted with beauty marks and freckles. The buzz cut teenager looks peaceful as he sleeps. For a moment Derek lets himself be happy and loved, with his family and pack and lover all around him.

Then he creaks open the tiny box and stares down at the contents inside.

The precious metal is warped from expose to flame and almost completely black. The green stones are almost as black as the band and one of them is missing.

Derek plucks it from its original velvet cushioning and lets it rest in his palm. It feels heavy despite how light it actually is.

If he concentrates hard enough he can still smell her scent on it, mixed in with the scent of smoke and of his charred family members. Derek’s stomach roils and he stuffs the old relic of his past into the box and shuts it quickly.

A dark cloud begins to roll back into his mind.

He can’t be weak again. He can’t let his emotions rule everything like they once had. That’s how his family ended up in a mass burning grave.

Derek looks back up at back at Stiles who snores lightly as he slumbers.

Stiles is no Kate. Their relationship is nothing like what it had been with Kate, this he knows.

But Stiles is sixteen and says he’s in love. That he wants to be his mate.

Derek had been sixteen and wanted Kate to be his mate, that he had loved her.

Looking back, he only liked Kate because she was super good looking and older and at the time she held the moon and the stars. She had actually paid attention to him and made him feel alive, even if in the end she had an ulterior motive.

The similarities between then and now make his insides twist sickeningly.

It’s too similar.

He feels the walls rebuilding themselves that Stiles had torn down. He feels them going back up. He feels guarded again, his jaw set and teeth clenched hard.

Stiles stirs and props himself up on his elbow and rubs his bleary eyes and gives Derek a bright smile full of warmth.

“Hey mister sourwolf, come back to bed.”

Derek stares at him, face as black as a stone slate. Stiles sits up right in bed. Confusion is written all over his face.

“Derek?” The teen says, voice wavering. Derek doesn’t answer, his knuckles are starting to turn white from the grip he has on the small box.

Stiles registers the change in him. He registers that the walls are back and the teens expression, and shoulders, visibly fall.

Derek rises from the floor and crosses the room. In the doorway he looks over his shoulder and levels a flat stare at Stiles, then walks out the door.

He can’t do this.

 


End file.
